BETWEEN the tabloids, Blow Torre and Sports Illustrated, ain’t been a good time for Alex Rodriguez. I know for sure for sure that, pre-this week’s story saying he’d used ster oids, last week’s story saying he’d been catting around the Bahamas isn’t so.

Natasha, his and ex-wife Cynthia‘s baby daughter, had been in Miami Children’s Hospital. Staph infection. Where it came from, nobody knows. But so severe she’d been on IV in a serious care unit five days. Both parents were there. At her bedside. Says Cynthia: “In terms of our kids, we work together.” A-Rod was low-profile and attentive.

As for Operation Steroids, an entire manuscript – not just a chapter and outline – is now being shopped. It’s by San Fran’s Victor Conte, who founded BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, which was the pro athletes’ candy store for performance-enhancing drugs. With collaborator Nathan Jendrick, it’s titled: “BALCO: The Straight Dope on Steroids, Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, and What We Can Do To Save Sports.”

Conte, who has since done jail time, says in the prologue he worked with Olympic and professional athletes and enhanced their performances.

THURSDAY night was 12 degrees. Cold? It was colder than Sarah Palin‘s front porch. So cold that in comparison tax auditors for Obama‘s Cabinet picks looked warm. How cold was it? Even the Ziegfeld’s hot buttered popcorn was frozen. And this was the “Confessions of a Shopaholic” premiere. Its star, Isla Fisher, wore a short short short short sleeveless armless frontless backless jeweled dress. And, outdoors, took off the mini white coat for a photograph. I said, “You nuts?” She said: “No, you crazy? This is a Matthew Williamson dress.” Translation: It’s a loaner. She wants it.